Busy days

Saturday ended up being quite a busy day.   I'd been feeling really poorly in the last few weeks and a course of antibiotics had cured the sinus problems but caused stomach related ones!  I was pretty annoyed because it was the Eclectic Keepsakes crop on Saturday and I could already see my chances of getting there getting slimmer by the minute.  I hadn't wished to tempt fate by preparing my bags and photos and had already set contingency plans in place to get my hands on the kit which I had seen in a sneaky peek and knew I was going to love!

Friday night had ended in the knowledge that my niece had finally gone into labour - almost a week late - and I was so disappointed to check my phone on Saturday morning and see there was no text message from my sister with news.  However, I obviously woke up too early as by half past seven there was a message to say that a new addition to our family had arrived.  I rushed into town to buy a congratulations card and a gift for baby Jacob, along with a present for his big sister just so she didn't feel left out.  Came home and thought 'You know what? I'm going to go to the crop.  Even if I only stay for an hour or so, it'll be good to get out do something creative'.  So I flung a few bits and bobs into a bag, picked up my trusty tote and pointed the car in a Colchesterly direction.  45 minutes later and I'm sitting in a hall full of lovely ladies, gossiping with Denise and doing another one of my Just One Sketch layouts.

It probably ought to have a bit more layering going on but in my haste to leave the house, I left behind a lot of bits and pieces I ought to have packed!  

Then it was time for the layout in the kit that Karen C had designed.  Oh it's pretty.  Oh it's adaptable.  And oh how I love these papers ...

Look how clever those polaroid frames are.  See the contrasting types of bunting.  And the delicate doilies.  Not to mention a tiny bit of 'bling' on the heart.  This was exactly 'what the doctor ordered' to make me feel better again.  The papers are from the My Mind's Eye - Be Happy range.  Far be it from me to encourage you to go shopping or to suggest that a scrapbooker may need to part with some hard earned pennies on new papers, but let's just say that if you do - you won't be disappointed ;-)

Storytelling Sunday - Needle in a haystack

Busy day here, so a short story for a change!  It's my son's 22nd birthday tomorrow so I'm telling a story relating to one of his birthday parties back in primary school.  Must have been about 8 I guess and we had gone to the local Indoor Adventure Playground for his party.  This was newly opened and had an enormous ball pond that the boys were having a wonderful time in.

photo: Google images

So I'm sitting in the cafe area, enjoying a coffee and a read of a magazine, safe in the knowledge that the boys were being supervised by the staff in the actual play area (adults not allowed in!)  Suddenly my son's best friend appeared at my side, in tears. 

Me: Oh Sam, whatever is the matter?

Sam: My wobbly tooth's come out.

Me:  Well, I'll make sure I tell your mum so that she can leave a note for the tooth fairy tonight.

Sam: {sobbing} The tooth fairy might not believe me, can you come in the ball pond and help me find it?  

Needless to say, Sam went home with a slice of birthday cake and a goody bag, but no tooth!

The story of Herman

About two weeks ago, my son returned from his girlfriend's with a bowl of a strange cream coloured mixture.
"I've brought you Herman" he said.  And with a brief "Oh, you'll need these instructions too" he was off.
Turns out that Herman is a German Friendship Cake mixture.  A basic sourdough base to which you add flour, sugar and milk a couple of times over the course of 10 days and keep loosely covered at all times on your work surface.  Herman grows to quite a size and bubbles away to prove he is still alive.  The initial Herman mix must have yeast included in it!  Then you divide Herman into four.  Pass three portions onto friends and add more ingredients to the remaining one and bake it.
Here's Herman's progress:

The final ingredients I added included cooking apples, cinnamon and sultanas and before it went into the oven, a generous sprinkling of brown sugar and melted butter to give it a crisp crunchy topping.
And the verdict?  Let's just say that I baked Herman on Monday night, it is now Wednesday morning and there is just one slim portion left.  Husband is now very upset that he can never have Herman again, unless someone passes a portion of him back to me in 10 days time!

Week 8 at 365+1

Eek - how has another week passed in the 365+1 challenge?  For this week I can offer you

A lovely sand dollar that we brought back from Florida about 14 years ago
A fashion article from a Sunday supplement that tells us that balaclavas will be in fashion sometime soon (not in this house they won't)
Two packs of antiobiotics to help make me feel 'ordinary' again
An early morning flight taking off in the clouds (hard to see in this reduced version!)
A spookily chosen leftover sticker from an old scrapbook crop day
A patch of boring cloud above the conservatory
and last but not least the mirror at Cafe Rouge.  We had gone there for a family brunch to celebrate my nephew's 40th birthday.

The weather this weekend has been glorious and wherever you look, spring bulbs are poking through the earth and it just makes you feel like you want to get out and about and into the fresh air.  It was lovely to go out yesterday and celebrate my nephew's birthday (my sister now feeling very old at having a 40 year old son - tee hee hee) and my niece was there, absolutely fit to burst.  Second baby due tomorrow and she's at the really uncomfortable, really fed up, just want it to be born stage. So I'm sure there will be some news on that front in the near future.
I haven't done anything creative at all this week, I just haven't felt like it but I think today I feel a bit better so hopefully the antibiotics have started to make an impact.  I need to be better for next Saturday as it's the Eclectic Keepsakes crop and I need to keep my cupcake consumption up.
Hope everyone has had a good weekend, can you believe that February is almost over?!

Do you believe in coincidence?

Yesterday was my day off and I ended up puppy sitting again {it's not a chore, I love her being here!}.  My daughter had made an appointment for a mobile dog groomer to come and give her a good wash and brush up, then ended up not being able to get time off work to be there so good old mum was asked to step in.  So I picked Coco up from her house and brought her here so I could take her for a lovely long muddy walk and someone else could make her look lovely again!  Before we ventured out, I came into the study to check my emails and we played Coco's favourite game.  See how much 'stuff' she can grab out of my scrapbook supplies while I am typing and run downstairs before I realise what she's up to.  She was having a good old tug on something in an old bag that I used to take to crops and suddenly ran off with me in hot pursuit.  I retrieved it from her mouth, took it upstairs and put it on the desk while she hunted around for something else.  Today I logged on to see what the prompt was for 365+1 photos and it was 'in the detail'.  Hmmm, what could I use for that?  And then my eye fell on the random bit of card Coco had chewed

Spooky eh?  The last time I used this sheet of stickers must have been almost 2 years ago I think and out of all the rubbish  special left over things I have kept in that old bag, she picked this one out.

I will save the before and after pics of the pup for another day, all I'm saying is she was in the groomer's van nearly 2 hours and she's not a big dog ...

I gave in and went to the doctor's yesterday and we both agreed that enough was enough, this stupid sinusitis was not going to go quietly so I'm on the dreaded antibiotics for the next week.  

Half term - over

So why does a week off work fly by so fast?  And more to the point, how does my immune system know I don't have to work and take a break itself, leaving me open to sore throats and a stupid cough that only starts about 3am?
Another week of 365+1 has passed and I'm still up to speed on it

As you can see, I had to orchestrate a photo for 'friendship' as my plans for that day didn't include meeting up with friends.
In an attempt to add a bit more to the recipe section of the blog, I have added in a favourite fish pie recipe that is so simple and yet so tasty.  We're having a night off of cooking tonight, it's our turn to host a Curry Night so the local take away will be doing the honours.  Hope you have a good weekend wherever you are and whatever you are doing!

Just one sketch - the circular one

So for this prompt we had to soften all our edges and 'go round in circles'.  

I think I ticked most of the boxes with this one!  I can't believe that this is prompt nine and that I've got so many layouts from 'Just One Sketch'.  

It's quite handy that this is half term and so I don't have to go to work this week as prompt ten went live this morning and I have plenty of time to work on it.  On Monday I decided to 'tidy' up my papers; putting whole sheets of cardstock and patterned paper together and sorting the off cuts and not quite whole sheets into some semblance of order.  All my alphabets in a box and stickers and rub ons in another.  An hour in and my enthusiasm was on the wane and the husband was looking on with a look of horror on his face.  However, whilst it is by no means perfect, I do see some order amongst the chaos now.  

So what else have I been up to?  Well, yesterday I popped round to a friend's house for coffee and she had been busy baking cupcakes ...

Aren't the beauties?  Needless to say I was unable to resist!